Windows XP Random Powerdowns

G

Guest

Hello to everyone,

I am trying to help a friend with his computer. He has been having some
weird problems for the past month and I can't figure them out.

It all started a month ago when his Windows XP SP2 started giving him blue
screens just after the Windows XP loading screen. I don't remember the exact
messages but from what I remember when I researched them...they had something
to do with the corrupted registry hive. We tried recovering the registry hive
with the one from the recover point but it did not work so we deleted
C:\Windows and reinstalled Windows XP again (we needed the data on the HDD
untouched). It did not work because we would get blue screen during
installation. We then installed the XP on the second HDD on his PC. It worked
for a while but then another problem started appearing: his PC would randomly
power down. He would run the PC for 30min to 1 hour and the PC would power
down by itself. We managed to re-install Windows XP on the first HDD again,
but the power downs don't seem to go away. It is even worse...the power downs
happen 5 min after starting XP. They would happen if he runs an mp3 or media
files, browse the internet for a while...purely random. I tried disabling the
Automatic Restart on physical memory dump hoping that it will cath the error
but it does not work.

Does anyone know what the issue might be? The HDD? The Motherboard? (we
narrowed it down to these two since we have played around with the hardware
configuration).

His hardware is as follows:
Motherboard: VIA Apollo
CPU: AMD Duron 1GHZ
RAM: 256 SDRAM PC133
HDD: Maxtor 40GB DiamondMax
 
N

NoStop

Hello to everyone,

I am trying to help a friend with his computer. He has been having some
weird problems for the past month and I can't figure them out.

It all started a month ago when his Windows XP SP2 started giving him blue
screens just after the Windows XP loading screen. I don't remember the
exact messages but from what I remember when I researched them...they had
something to do with the corrupted registry hive. We tried recovering the
registry hive with the one from the recover point but it did not work so
we deleted C:\Windows and reinstalled Windows XP again (we needed the data
on the HDD untouched). It did not work because we would get blue screen
during installation. We then installed the XP on the second HDD on his PC.
It worked for a while but then another problem started appearing: his PC
would randomly power down. He would run the PC for 30min to 1 hour and the
PC would power down by itself. We managed to re-install Windows XP on the
first HDD again, but the power downs don't seem to go away. It is even
worse...the power downs happen 5 min after starting XP. They would happen
if he runs an mp3 or media files, browse the internet for a while...purely
random. I tried disabling the Automatic Restart on physical memory dump
hoping that it will cath the error but it does not work.

Does anyone know what the issue might be? The HDD? The Motherboard? (we
narrowed it down to these two since we have played around with the
hardware configuration).

His hardware is as follows:
Motherboard: VIA Apollo
CPU: AMD Duron 1GHZ
RAM: 256 SDRAM PC133
HDD: Maxtor 40GB DiamondMax
Click to expand...

The problem could well be an overheating CPU. Check into that - fan, clean
fins, etc. Maybe reseat with new thermal grease applied to the heatsink.

--
The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://linclips.crocusplains.com/index.php
 
R

Rock

astrosapiens said:
Hello to everyone,

I am trying to help a friend with his computer. He has been having some
weird problems for the past month and I can't figure them out.

It all started a month ago when his Windows XP SP2 started giving him blue
screens just after the Windows XP loading screen. I don't remember the exact
messages but from what I remember when I researched them...they had something
to do with the corrupted registry hive. We tried recovering the registry hive
with the one from the recover point but it did not work so we deleted
C:\Windows and reinstalled Windows XP again (we needed the data on the HDD
untouched). It did not work because we would get blue screen during
installation. We then installed the XP on the second HDD on his PC. It worked
for a while but then another problem started appearing: his PC would randomly
power down. He would run the PC for 30min to 1 hour and the PC would power
down by itself. We managed to re-install Windows XP on the first HDD again,
but the power downs don't seem to go away. It is even worse...the power downs
happen 5 min after starting XP. They would happen if he runs an mp3 or media
files, browse the internet for a while...purely random. I tried disabling the
Automatic Restart on physical memory dump hoping that it will cath the error
but it does not work.

Does anyone know what the issue might be? The HDD? The Motherboard? (we
narrowed it down to these two since we have played around with the hardware
configuration).

His hardware is as follows:
Motherboard: VIA Apollo
CPU: AMD Duron 1GHZ
RAM: 256 SDRAM PC133
HDD: Maxtor 40GB DiamondMax
Click to expand...

Could be an overheating problem or a power supply problem. Open the
case and blow out all the dust, make sure all the fans are working. Get
a utility to monitor the internal temps.

To test if it's the power supply swap out with a good one.

Test the memory using these programs. You should run both.
Memtest86+
http://www.memtest.org/

Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Download a drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive manufacturer's
web site and run it.
 
G

Guest

Thank you all for the replies. Most of them were concerning the temperature
or the power supply.

I forgot to mention that I actually tested the machine with a good supply
(my own) and did now work either. I will check into the heating problem but
should this be ahppening only if the PC was running for a while. I mean this
PC powers off 5 min after being turned off.
 
P

Pennywise

|>Thank you all for the replies. Most of them were concerning the temperature
|>or the power supply.
|>
|>I forgot to mention that I actually tested the machine with a good supply
|>(my own) and did now work either. I will check into the heating problem but
|>should this be ahppening only if the PC was running for a while. I mean this
|>PC powers off 5 min after being turned off.

You'd think :) not knowing what your running, but a CPU intensive
program will heat it up faster than say mine sweeper.


|>"astrosapiens" wrote:
|>
|>> Hello to everyone,
|>>
|>> I am trying to help a friend with his computer. He has been having some
|>> weird problems for the past month and I can't figure them out.
|>>
|>> It all started a month ago when his Windows XP SP2 started giving him blue
|>> screens just after the Windows XP loading screen. I don't remember the exact
|>> messages but from what I remember when I researched them...they had something
|>> to do with the corrupted registry hive. We tried recovering the registry hive
|>> with the one from the recover point but it did not work so we deleted
|>> C:\Windows and reinstalled Windows XP again (we needed the data on the HDD
|>> untouched). It did not work because we would get blue screen during
|>> installation. We then installed the XP on the second HDD on his PC. It worked
|>> for a while but then another problem started appearing: his PC would randomly
|>> power down. He would run the PC for 30min to 1 hour and the PC would power
|>> down by itself. We managed to re-install Windows XP on the first HDD again,
|>> but the power downs don't seem to go away. It is even worse...the power downs
|>> happen 5 min after starting XP. They would happen if he runs an mp3 or media
|>> files, browse the internet for a while...purely random. I tried disabling the
|>> Automatic Restart on physical memory dump hoping that it will cath the error
|>> but it does not work.
|>>
|>> Does anyone know what the issue might be? The HDD? The Motherboard? (we
|>> narrowed it down to these two since we have played around with the hardware
|>> configuration).
|>>
|>> His hardware is as follows:
|>> Motherboard: VIA Apollo
|>> CPU: AMD Duron 1GHZ
|>> RAM: 256 SDRAM PC133
|>> HDD: Maxtor 40GB DiamondMax
 
G

Guest

Cheek out a program called Speedfan to see what your cpu temperatures are.
Current AMDs avereage about 33C idle. Also go into the bios and load the
fail safe or default settings. To get into bios press either the delete, F2,
or F1 key(diferent motherboards have different keys)

by the way: your freind might want to concider saving up to purchase a new
computer capable of runnig windows vista
 
R

Ron Martell

astrosapiens said:
Thank you all for the replies. Most of them were concerning the temperature
or the power supply.

I forgot to mention that I actually tested the machine with a good supply
(my own) and did now work either. I will check into the heating problem but
should this be ahppening only if the PC was running for a while. I mean this
PC powers off 5 min after being turned off.
Click to expand...

In your original posting you did not mention the 5 minute power off
behavior. You said 30 minutes to 1 hour, which is the classic
situation for CPU overheating when the heatsink is clogged with dust
and/or the CPU fan is malfunctioning.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
G

Guest

I mentioned it in my initial post almost at the end.

I did load failsafe configuration of BIOS and the computer went out again.
The Speedfan application was showing 4000RPM speed of the fan and abou 48
degrees Celcius temperature of the CPU.

Interesting I've noticed that I my friend did not bother to explain before.
The only think that actually shuts down is his monitor. His PC is actually
"running". By that I mean the hardware is running but XP is gone and the
monitor is blank. It looks like something of a hibernation state but you
can't get it out of it except to shut it down and start it again.

As far as buying a new PC...yeah I know. I have given him the idea already,
but he wants to squeeze some more juice out of it for a bit longer.

Thank you for the quick responses.

a.
 

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